Manila, Philippines - Smart Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes on his Twitter post named the 17-man Gilas pool of players for FIBA Basketball World Cup to be held in Spain starting August 30, 2014. The team is expected to play also at the Asian Games.

All 12 members of the team that finished runners-up to Iran at last year's FIBA Asia Championship in Manila are in the pool. This includes Jimmy Alapag, LA Tenorio, Jayson Castro, Larry Fonacier, Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Gary David, Ranidel Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Japeth Aguilar, Junemar Fajardo and naturalized player Marcus Douthit.

The 2.10m center could face competition for his spot in the team, however, if Brooklyn Nets pivot Andray Blatche receives a passport.

Should the Philippines congress approve the American's application for citizenship, the official number of players in the pool will rise from 17 to 18.

Big men Beau Belga of Rain or Shine and Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra are in the 2014 pool as well as Marcio Lassiter, Jared Dillinger and Paul Lee.

"I would like to acknowledge the team owners and the PBA (Philippines Basketball Association) Board of Governors for allowing me to name the players in the pool," Reyes said.

"I would like to thank the PBA for its continued partnership to the national team effort."

The Philippines, among the 24 qualifiers of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was recently drawn in Group B of the competition with their opponents will be, in order, Croatia, Greece, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Senegal.

The team will start its practice tomorrow, March 3 8pm at the Philsports Arena and will continue to hold once-a-week practices until such time that the team can hold regular practices.

The Philippines last played at a FIBA World Championship when the tournament was held in the country in 1978. FIBA World Cup 2014 will be the first time after 40 years that the country will be playing in the world basketball stage.